Paul working for you.
Tuesday, August 7, 2012
another selectmen's corner (forgot what number we are on)
from the Selectmen corner
Subject of the day is Templeton non-union sick time. I suggest employees obtain the latest copy of the personnel policy and turn to page 23 and look at C. Sick Time. Second paragraph down states each employee shall be allowed 13 days of sick time per fiscal year and may accumulate up to 100 sick days. My statement is wrong answer cupcake, Templeton town by-laws state on page 12 - Article XVII - Sick Leave for full-time employees, section 1. "All full-time town employees shall be entitled to ten (10) days of sick leave in any one year which may be accumulated to a total of sixty days." The Personnel By-law does not address this so i believe sick time totals may have to be adjusted in light of this situation, we have a policy saying one thing and a town law stating another. Town employees wanted to keep or get clarification on benefits and here is the latest, you earn 10 sick days a year, not 13 and you can have 60 days on the books, not 100.
Jeffrey Bennett
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Makes sence to me, I say we stick to the town by-laws. It seems to me the town by-laws would have more clout than the personnel policy. Looks like the personnel policy needs to be stripped and reworked. Bev.
ReplyDeleteMay 2005 Annual Town Meeting Article 16 - To see if the Town will vote to amend the General Bylaws by adopting, pursuant to G.L. c. 41, §§108A and 108C, a personnel bylaw which establishes a five (5) member personnel board and a personnel compensation and classification plan, a copy of which is on file at the Town Clerk’s office, or to take any other action relative thereto. Here we go again another controversy. Now I have a few questions - how does a new employee (non-union) get 4 weeks paid vacation when he starts??? How does a water employee (office person) get to be in the Light Dept union??? Does the selectmen's office negotiate the Water and light union contracts?? How does a 40 hr per week employee get to leave at various times come and go and not have to account to anyone??
ReplyDeleteJust wondering
Selectmen do NOT negotiate light and water unions.
DeleteHeres a Wild idea !!! Being we were all told as children that Water And Electricity ARE A BAD COMBINATION .and water and electicity DONT MIX . Why dont we take the advise thats been driven into our STUPID TAXPAYERS BRAINS .and SEPERATE THEM . AS IN WATER AND SEWER DEPT. OR EVEN BETTER .[ DEPT. OF PUBLIC WORKS ].with one person /director . that runs the show . this person would be responsible to answer to the towns people ,with everybody else working under him . THEREBY LETTING THE LIGHT DEPT. BE THE LIGHT DEPT...
DeleteO MY GOD . WHAT A GREAT IDEA . I CANT WAIT FOR THE DAY WHEN THE WATER DEPT. SECRATARYS COME HOME FROM A HARD DAYS WORK at the office .AT THE SEWER TREATMENT PLANT . [HONEY IS THAT A NEW PERFUME ] if it is bring it back . YOU SMELL LIKE SH-T . LoL hahahahahaha !!!
DeleteWell, well, well. Seems the author(s) were not fully informed of the Town ByLaws when they wrote the policy! Hmmmm very Interesting. Another indication of disorganizition in the Town Bylaws. It is improbable (for me anyway) to memorize every rule or law in the book, but, this book makes it impossible.
ReplyDeleteWell Check, if you look in the by-law book, it has the personnel policy on page 41, when you turn there, it says the personnel by-law may be obtained at the town clerk's office, public records request? how much $$$? so the town bylaw book does not even have all the by-laws in it, go figure.
DeleteI know, I mentioned this a while back. Actually, the ByLaw is there, but, the policies need to be obtained at the Town Clerk's office. I also said I think they should be online for us to see.
DeleteNo controversy, the changing of the general by-laws by adding a personnel by-law is fine, the personnel by-law did not cover sick leave, it is addressed in the personnel policy but not in the by-law and there is no indication that article xvII was amended, so unless there is some hidden adendum in some folder or desk....just another reason why the policy needs to be fixed and it is being looked at by the personnel board. And we know how the classification plan has worked or not. Please attend the meeting on august 8, 2012 at 690 Patriots road @ 6:00 PM and August 22, 2012. being dealt with being dealt with and being dealt with, thanks Anonymous # aah I lost track.
ReplyDeleteJEFF, I THINK YOUR NEEDLE GOT STUCK! BEV.
DeleteWe all know that there are discrepencies and what needs to be done to fix those discrepencies. What's going to be difficult is drawing yet another line in the sand with many upset/confused employees. Going from 100-60 sicks days on the books is a significant change.
ReplyDeleteIt looks like another ploy the former crew in charge, used to buy supporters. I can not see how the personnel policy can supersead the town by-laws. The copy of the personnel policies I have is dated September 27, 2005. The By-Laws are dated 2010. It looks like for one reason or other the personnel policies did not catch up when changes were made. Go figure more agrivation to deal with.Bev.
DeleteBev. The Town Bylaw Jeff is referring to was enacted in 1968 and last amended in 1982. It hasn't changed since. Each Bylaw written or amended needs town meeting vote and AG approval, harder to change. The policies can be written and changed easier with just Selectmen approval. So many bylaws are out of context in the book, I don't wonder why they are overlooked and become outdated. This will take time to correct, but, I think we are on the right track.
DeleteAlso, I believe ByLaws are the law. Policies do not supercede them, therefore, that particular policy seems to be null and void. My opinion w/o legal representation......hehe
DeleteAs someone working for a privately owned company, I receive 10 paid sick days per year. At the end of that year, anything unused is gone. I don't get reimbursed for it, nor does it carry over to the next year. Why have sick time carry over? It just encourages employees to take time off because it is there, not because they are sick (and that's what vacation and personal days are for). For illnesses that keep you out of work for longer periods of time, there is short-term and long-term disability.
DeleteThe Personnel Policy was accepted under bylaw article XLVII - why doesn't the town cleck put it in the bylaw book or at least have the "vote" on the website instead of just the article that went to town meeting in each year. If you look at the town meeting in 2006 (the link is on the first page of the website)something was amended. Here we go again screwing the town employee that actually works and doesn't use their sick time unless they are truly sick. or had to save them for an operation and yes the personnel policy should be on the website. I know I have had to give copies of it to employees that couldn't get it from the "personnel adm." I also made copies for members of the personnel board board. Lets see if we can get a copy in electronic format for the blog.
ReplyDeletemost of the honest workers in the world are sick maybe 3 days a year the most, and when they are they take a day off and don't get paid or they take a day off their vacation, GET RID of the sick days as they are abused anyway.
ReplyDeleteWho's responsibility is it to put town business info on the website? Clerk? Selectmen? Coordinator? No one? This task needs to be defined and added to someone's job responsibility. Does it really have to take a citizen to demand this at a BOS meeting or can the BOS act on this on their own? All bylaws and policies need to be on the website. All minutes of public meetings needs to be on the website. This is an act that does not cost money. Just someone to implement it. I know the website is updated by a volunteer currently. But in order to move Templeton into the 21st century and evolve into a productive operation, the website should function as an essential communication tool and be a town employee's responsibility to maintain. Its insane to hear that bylaws and rules live in one place but not the other and because of that, its causing so much confusion. Update/streamline the policies, then "publish" them on the website where all can read for free.
ReplyDeleteAll departments should be responsible for putting their info on the website. look at the assessors page - meeting minutes, abatement info, elderly exemption info etc etc. Sue says all she does is sent Kathy M an email of what she wants added and Kathy puts it right up - very easy!!
DeleteTown by-law XLIV staes the selectmen shall designate and official town website for the posting of town business and provide for its maintenance, security and improvements through a specific line item in the budget.
ReplyDeleteTown by-law XLV states that selectmen shall psot all by-laws and town meeting warrants on the official town website. We are playing catch up right now, there are 2 annual town reports on the website which is a big improvement in itself and the by-laws are on the website. Try going to the light & water commissioners and tell them to post their meeting notices and minutes on the website. We will get there, just not tomorrow.
Question for taxpayers, while we are airing concerns for a town website and meeting minutes being online, which I agree with, lets ponder something really important, why does the town of Templeton spend approximately 60 thousand dollars (plus) on its own individual health agent? The laws allow for regional health districts and the sharing of health agents the same as it allows for the sharing of tree wardens and other services. Would it make more sense to share a health agent with another community or communities and share the costs between parties? The state laws involving health like the building codes do not change at town line, they are uniform through out the state. While i understand taxpayers wanting town information readily available and if anyone recalls, I brought forward a proposal to the board of selectman to create a policy of waiving the first $5.00 charge for copies of public records, and many people spoke out against that. So maybe I can try the approach of creating a policy directive from the board of selectment to the town that all meeting minutes need to be placed on the town website, a requirement that the minutes need to be up to date along with any reports of boards, commissions and committees. The board of selectmen need to get their paper minutes up to date and approved first off! And perhaps moving forward we can reduce the printing of annual town reports to a limited number and just put them online. Yes a citizen or citizens may need to push this forward at a selectmen meeting and see if there is any fence sitting.
ReplyDeleteJeff - if we regionalize, how do we maintain accountability to the Templeton BOH? Would Templeton still have a BOH, or would it be regionalized also? Like the NRSD, maybe?
ReplyDeleteI'm not so worried if we regionalize with another town. Gardner, I would have concerns. The health director of Gardner was totally in denial about the odors from the landfill, if you recall. Of course, we had to rely on the Snooze back then for info. I believe the landfill was under his purview, and it took a long time to get straightened out. I would not want that guy making any decisions in Templeton.
Just my opinion. I appreciate your forward-thinking, your research and your good-sense approach to problems.
mark, to be honest with you, i was just tossing the idea out there and I have not researched it fully, but i did see in the MGL while I was looking them over at 3:00 am the other day, there is mention that regionalized health districts which I take as sort of like the NRHS school district and I also believe Templeton or any other town that regionalizes can maintain there own BOH and just work with the shared health agent, much like some conservation commissions use an agent who is part time in many communities or is contracted when needed. Just tossin it out there Mark, got to get the blog hits over the 300,000 mark, Pauly can get free gifts ya know.
ReplyDeleteThe BOS did vote to regionalize the BOH ...last year maybe? Fitchburg was the lead community. The agreement should be in the BOS office. I remember that it was a mutual aid type of agreement . There was a fee involved after the grant ran out in a few years. I didn't keep a copy of it.
ReplyDeleteJeff,
ReplyDeleteI think you might be onto something. If the law allows for regionalization, then maybe we should be looking at it to see how to make it work in our favor. Don't Templeton and Phillipston share the same Health Agent already? That's probably a good place to start. He probably doesn't work 80 hours a week between the two towns.
I don't know how a regional BOH would work, but I am pretty sure that the Phillipston office is part time. Simply combining offices and office staff would probably save a substantial amount of money on its own. (Electricity, lights, heat, etc.)
That being said, I do like the idea of a Health Agent as a consultant. It would certainly save us more money over the long run.
Phil
At one point in time the BOS were the board of Health also. They changed so the BOH was seperate in the seventies. I was on with Walter Rolf, and Bob Brewer. In the beginning we did not have a office. Every thing was in boxes in the back of Walters car! We then met in the old light company building, finally landing in the Otter River school. Walt bought two desks a couple chairs, a file cabinent, a answering machine and a typewriter, from a second hand store. We were in business! I also worked with Bill Blais and Tom Benbeick, we did all of the resteraunt inspections, did perc tests and took care of problems, while we all worked full time, at our other jobs. We finally hired a part time agent. He did a super job. Today the rules are about the same as back then. I find it hard to believe our agent is so busy, he can't get the barn inspections done??? There is no reason I can think of, why we could not have a shared agent. The big building boom is long gone. I did not understand how the Board members could get paid, then have a full time agent, to boot? This is something worth looking into. Do you guys know the BOH is more powerfull than the selectmen? They are the only Board that can make laws. Don't be surprised if not everyone is happy with this idea. But with times being where we are it is worth looking over. My opinion, Bev.
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